A Different Life
by PurpleRosePhoenix
Summary: A tragedy that befalls Vernon and Petunia Dursley a year before their nephew is placed in their care changed their outlook on life, magic and Lily Potter. How different would Harry have been if he had been raised by family that cared and encouraged him instead of hating and putting him down. What would his Hogwarts years be like if he had more knowledge at the very beginning?


Disclaimer: All Characters belong to J. , I am simply borrowing them for my own pleasure.  
This is my version of what happens to Harry and his life if he were raised by the same people but under different circumstances. I hope you enjoy, and please when offering criticism, at least make it constructive.

November 1st, 1981

It was Petunia Dursleys shriek after she'd opened the door that got her husband out of bed early that morning. He would be the first to admit that he was a bit lazy, and he much preferred staying in bed until she called him for breakfast before he had to leave for work. But she didn't normally shriek when bringing in the milk, so he hurried down the stairs.

"Pet?" he asked, worried for his wife. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She shook her head and continued staring down at the ground in front of the door. Vernon peered around her and drew in a shocked breath, for there on their doorstep was a basket with a baby in it. His first thought was that this was a very cruel joke, the whole neighborhood knew about their loss last year, but Petunia's whispered 'Lily' was enough to make him remember that his wife's sister had gone into hiding early last year.

"There's a letter," Vernon said, reaching down to lift the child up. He glanced around with a frown as he noticed the frost on the ground. "Who in their right mind leaves a child out in the cold like this? He could have frozen to death!"

Petunia took the envelope, addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley, and opened it up to read it.

Dear Mrs. Dursley,

I am sorry to inform you that your sister, Lily Potter, and her husband James were found and murdered by the Dark Lord Voldemort last night, October 31st. Their son, Harry, is the sole survivor of the attack. The scar on his forehead, I believe is left from an attempt from the Dark Lord to use the Killing Curse on him, but somehow it rebounded and instead hit the Dark Lord. Harry is at this moment, already being celebrated as the Boy-Who-Lived. While the Dark Lord is gone, I believe that he will return eventually and to keep Harry safe I have placed him with you, his last living relative, in the muggle world. I leave it up to you on when to inform Harry of his heritage and look forward to seeing him when he begins school. I truly hope he can have a happy, and normal, upbringing.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts

"What exactly do you think he meant by a normal upbringing?" Petunia asked her husband a while later, once she had settled Harry with some of the toys Vernon had pulled from the cupboard under the stairs.

"Well, no idea what's normal for those people," Vernon said, eyeing his nephew warily. "And this Dumbledore, why does a school Headmaster think he can tell us how to raise a child? Who gave him the authority to bring Harry to us?"

"I've no idea," Petunia murmured. "But from what I understand from Lily, he is a highly respected person in their world. Though she also called him manipulative and far too concerned with politics than his school."

"I'll leave it to you, shall I Pet?" Vernon said awkwardly, not sure what to say. He knew Petunia had never been close to her sister; their relationship had been cordial at best, and that she knew next to nothing about that world. But Lily Potter had still been her sister, so he knew Petunia could not just ignore the fact that she was now dead.

"Yes dear," Petunia murmured, watching Harry play contentedly with the toys. "Have a good day at work."

It was perhaps the tragedy of losing their son so early in his life that had changed the Dursleys, or perhaps it was the help that Lily Potter had given them in the weeks that followed his death that made them willing to take in her son and raise him. It was perhaps not the most loving home a child could have, their lost son had been a month older than Harry and to Vernon and Petunia their nephew would always be a reminder of what they'd lost. The weeks following Harry's arrival into their household were busy ones, Petunia had been contacted by the local police where her sister and brother-in-law had lived to come and identify their bodies. Once that was done she had needed to arrange for their burials and funerals. The tasks that followed; arranging for their house to be fixed and properly warded (whatever that meant), their accounts to be taken care of, their will to be read and the proper paperwork for Harry to be in her care submitted to the Wizarding Social Workers department had only been completed with help from one of her sisters friends, a man named Remus Lupin who had introduced himself at the funeral. Petunia had learned how to send post by owl from him and been instructed on the proper people to contact before he had apologized about having to leave the country for work.

Vernon had spent the few weeks going to work and giving Petunia his support when she needed it. He was wary about magic, he wasn't sure what it could do and that scared him. He signed the papers Petunia presented him and read the pamphlets that were sent to them, but overall they agreed that Petunia would be the one to raise Harry. She was after all, the most comfortable with the idea of magic out of the two of them. When a company in Exeter offered him a job with a bigger salary and better benefits he brought it up with Petunia they found that Exeter was only an hour drive from the Hollow, where the Potter's house was.

It was nearly a year later that the Dursleys and their nephew moved into a comfortable 4 bedroom house in a suburb exactly halfway between Vernon's job and the Hollow, where Harry was registered to go to a small school for wizarding children when he turned 3. And while they were never a traditional family – Vernon stayed away from anything to do with his nephew in general and Petunia could never quite stop remembering her small boy who should be in Harry's place – they were content with their lot in life.


End file.
